Knowledge-Sharing Strategies in Distributed Collaborative Product Development

Abstract

Knowledge-sharing strategies are used across the industry as open innovation and distributed collaboration are becoming more popular to achieve technological competencies, faster time-to-market, competitiveness and growth. Sharing of knowledge can provide benefits to manufacturing and new product development (NPD) companies in improving their product quality and enhancing business potential. This paper examines the implementation of knowledge-sharing strategies in New Zealand aimed at bridging the physical locational issues to achieve collaborative benefits in NPD firms through an in-depth case study. The analysis of this only one, but interesting, case extends a holistic multi-mediation model by Pateli and Lioukas for the effect of functional involvement in a distributed collaborative product development environment. This study explores the external and internal knowledge transfer and how it affects early-stage, late-stage, and the overall product development process. Findings present a knowledge-sharing toolset that enhances innovation in all stages of product development overcoming the environmental factors to improve early and late-stage development through a two-way knowledge-transfer loop with distributed stakeholders. An encouraging management culture is found as key for transparent knowledge transfer across cross-functional teams. The organizational structure and management style play an important role for both external and internal distribution of knowledge.

Impact of Knowledge Exchange in Cross Regional Interdisciplinary Collaboration Within a Robotic Development Project

“…Often knowledge of impact of completed projects remains tacit and will remain so until research is published which is not always exploited enough within research focusing on technological advancement in academic-industry collaboration [5]. Critical Success Factors Framework for Collaborative Product Development requires that extra effort is exhorted on communication protocols and upheld for measuring success [6].…”

“…The University of Greenwich undertook work packages related to the development of web-based data, information and communication management systems for a number of use case studies within the aerospace [5], automation [6] and civil infrastructure [7] domains. CESI LINEACT worked on process modeling and optimization used for the manufacturing system deployed within enterprise resource planning (ERP) of the CoRoT Project [8].…”

The Influence of Local Economic Conditions on Start-Ups and Local Open Innovation System

“…The open nature of innovation fosters widespread knowledge transfer and diffusion, which in turn, enhances macro-level innovation and supports dynamic economic development [24,25]. Knowledge sharing can benefit manufacturing and new product development companies in improving the quality of their products and increasing business potential [26]. The use of open innovation also reduces resource use, multiplies the results of collaborative ideas and activities, and strengthens economic relationships [27,28].…”

Product Quality Planning in Laser Metal Processing Based on Open Innovation Using Quality Function Deployment

“…In the current market relationships, organizational planning is an important cornerstone of business development [4,5]. The current prices for all products and resources are freely set by competing manufacturers and consumers [6,7], and each business individually decides what products they should manufacture in the upcoming planning period and in what quantity [8,9]. As a result, the planning process provides the necessary balance between the manufacturer and consumer of a given product, the market demand for goods and services, and the supply from the manufacturer [10].…”